The invention relates to a mechanism for accessing the Internet via an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) network. Within the context of this application, ‘Internet’ should be interpreted broadly to cover any large-area networks using Internet Protocols (IP). Especially it is the applicant's intention to include future developments, such as Internet 2 or NGI (‘Next generation Internet’), and corporate networks, commonly referred to as intranets or extranets.
A person designing an Internet access mechanism faces several issues, such as interoperability, security, billing, economic use of IP addresses, and how to make the best use of installed equipment, etc.
From references [1, Kwok et al.] and [2, Nilsson et al.] are known Internet access mechanisms for connecting each of several customer premises equipment (abbreviated “CPE”) via an ATM network to one of several service providers (SP). The concept of service provider comprises Internet service provides (ISP), content providers (CP, for video-on-demand, etc.), and corporate network servers (CNS, for telecommuting, etc.)
Referring to FIG. 1, CPEs are connected to the ATM network at network termination points (NT). A typical NT, such as NT1 in FIG. 1, is a network gateway having a network interface for the customer's local area network, LAN, and another interface towards the ATM network. Alternatively, a personal computer PC or a workstation WS can be connected directly (without a LAN) to the ATM network by means of an ATM/ADSL adapter card (shown as NT2), which in this case is the NT. In both cases, there is a well-defined NT for each CPE (although one NT may serve several CPEs). According to both cited references, the network comprises an access server function, or ASF, having a connection to each NT and each SP such that each NT has a permanent connection or a permanent virtual connection to the ASF. The wording ‘access server function’ implies that the ASF can be a dedicated network element or it can be integrated into or co-located with another network element, such as an ATM switch. In the cited references, the ASF has been referred to as an ‘access node’/‘DSLAM’ (digital subscriber line access multiplexer) or an ‘edge router’. It should be noted that the difference between ‘permanent connection’ and ‘permanent virtual connection’ has become rather blurred and later in this application, only ‘permanent virtual connection’ (PVC) will be used.
A problem of the known Internet access mechanisms is that they do not give a satisfactory answer to following problem: How can a specific end-user be connected to the desired service provider with a minimal number of permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) with a possibility of end-user authentication taking place only at the ends of the PVCs (not necessarily at the ASF)?